Premium Tobacco from Africa

You are probably familiar with the CAO Arcana Series of cigars. It explores older and sometimes forgotten methods used by premium tobacco farmers! There have been three releases in the series. Mortal Coil featured andullo tobacco and the unique way it's fermented. Firewalker refers to the process of buring the filler tobacco to ferment in volcanic soil for two months before the second factory fermentation! The third release, Thunder Smoke, is the first of its kind for CAO. Thunder Smoke is blended with premium tobacco grown in the shadow of Africa’s Victoria Falls, the local Sotho name that translates to “The Smoke That Thunders.”

Thunder Smoke features all African premium tobacco fillers. These come from Cameroon, South Africa, and Zimbaabwe. In 2020, Africa's top tobacco leaf growers were Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. All but Uganda were also some of Africa's top tobacco exporters. It seems that Zimbabwe is the largest tobacco producer in Africa with China being the primary supporter. Tobacco brought Zimbabwe a record $1.2 billion in 2023 from exports mostly to China, according to the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB).

There is now even a premium cigar company manufacturing in Africa! Bongani Cigars uses domestic and imported premium tobacco to make its premium cigars. The most recent edition of the CRA Newsletter contained an article about these cigars. If you'd like to learn more about the company's Lebanese owner, check out this article.

That should provide you with enough reading to finish a premium cigar! No, Bailey's doesn't sell Bognani Cigars but we do still have a couple Thunder Smokes. Also, the binder of the Bailey's cigar comes from Cameroon! There's also the CAO Orellana (in the CAO Outpost sampler), named for Francisco de Orellana who discovered the Amazon River. Finally, don't forget that CRA members get a 10% discount at Bailey's!